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Stardate 20011210.1106 (On Screen): Thomas responds to my comment earlier to day about Iraq, which talks about the overall purpose of this war. He writes: I think that not only "plausible demonstration of future danger" is needed -- no argument, Iraq is definitely dangerous, and is likely getting more so. The additional requirement is how to distinguish Iraq, in this respect, from any number of other countries that are also plausibly dangerous in the future. Repeating my old list, these include Pakistan, North Korea, China, Iran, Libya, and no doubt other countries as well. Without a well-defined doctrine that defines exactly how Iraq is different from these countries, a war on Iraq for this reason would be an open-ended declaration of war on any similar country. Exactly so; this is a "declaration of war" on other countries which are similar. This war started with al Qaeda, but it does not end with Iraq. The other places Thomas mentions must also be dealt with. The hope is that it won't be necessary to deal with them all violently, but all of them will be dealt with one way or another. I don't agree with his list exactly, however; I would not include China but I would include such nations as Syria, Somalia and Sudan. (This isn't about getting every nation which is hostile to us, as such.) Iraq is not special; Thomas is quite right about that. And we're not going to treat it specially; we'll get to them all eventually. (discuss) Hey, man, call me "Steve". "Mr. Den Beste" makes me sound so old. (sob)
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